The US Army - Training

Photos of Soldiers, cadres ,cadets, training, recruits, tank, nurses, Army nurse

We have gathered a collection of some of the best and most moving photos taken of African-American soldiers during the Second World War. They are from the National Archives in Washington D.C.
Please browse at your leisure. Meditate on the sacrifices given by these men and women in wartime.

This page is dedicated to African Americans Training in the US Army

Sixteen Negro soldiers recently won the coveted 'wings' of the U.S. Army paratroopers at Fort Benning, in the southern U.S. state of Georgia. The picture shows some of them riding high in a C-47 transport plane preparing to make one of the required five qualifying jumps. March 1944. 208-FS-1783-1. Just after stepping out of Ft. Benning [GA] Theater No. 4 at the conclusion of the 16th O.C.S. graduating exercises, 2nd Lts. Henry C. Harris, Jr.; Frank Frederick Doughton; Elmer B. Kountze; and Rogers H. Beardon (behind) start pinning their brass bars on each others shoulders. May 29, 1942. Golz. 111-SC-137679.
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Lt. B. Holmes instructing cadres in the art of parry and long thrust in bayonet practice. Left to right: T/Sgt. Leroy Smith, Pvt. George W. Jones, and Sgt. Leo Shorty, look on. 92d Division, Fort McClellan, AL. November 1942. 111-SC-147979. A squad of non-coms, cadres of the 92nd Division, get a refresher course in charging through smoke. When the main body of troops arrives it will be up to the cadres to train them. Fort McClellan, AL. November 1942. 111-SC-147998.
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Men of the Sixteenth Battalion, crack all-Negro training unit at the Field Artillery Replacement Center, Fort Bragg, NC, are shown in their daily rifle calisthenics. After nine weeks training the men have developed a rhythm and precision in these body building exercises that is seldom equalled by more experienced troops. February 1943. 111-SC-166875. Address of welcome to [Army Air Corps] cadets in front of Booker T. Washington Monument on the grounds of Tuskegee Institute. Tuskegee, AL. August 1941. 111-SC-122432.
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[Army Air Corps] cadets reporting to Captain B[enjamin] O. Davis, Jr. commandant of cadets. Tuskegee Field, AL. September 1941. 111-SC-122434. Officer returns salute as he passes the cadets lined up during review. Tuskegee Field, AL. N.d. 208-NP-5QQ-6.
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Basic and advanced flying school for Negro Air Corps cadets, Tuskegee, Alabama. In the center is Capt. Roy F. Morse, Air Corps. He is teaching the cadets how to send and receive code. On the left, from front to rear: James B. Knighten, Lee Rayford, and C. H. Flowers. On the right, from front to rear: George Levi Knox, Sherman W. White, and Mac Ross. January 1942. Wilfred Morgan. 208-NP-5QQ-3. Pilots at Selfridge Field [MI] learn to carry out bombing missions as they would carry them out under actual combat conditions. These pilots are being briefed for a practice raid. Ca. 1943. 208-VM-1-5-68A.
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Negro pilots in one of the flight formations which will soon carry them over enemy territory. Here they are flying the shark-nosed P-40 fighter aircraft. Selfridge Field, MI. Ca. 1943. 208-VM-1-5-69G. Negro recruits at Manhattan Beach Training Station, [NY]. N.d. 26-G-142-2114.
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George C. Fields, 32, points proudly to the honor certificate presented him yesterday at graduation exercises for the tenth Negro class to be graduated from the Navy's Service Schools at the U.S. Naval Training Station, Great Lakes, IL. Fields served as President Roosevelt's valet for four years before entering the Navy. Ca. 1943. 208-NP-7QQ-2. As a landing barge noses onto the beach, members of the Negro Seabee Battalion clamber ashore. This assault training is supplemental to the Seabees' chief work as construction crews for the U.S. Navy. Ca. December 1942. 208-N-570.
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CQM L. J. Russell, USNR, teaching navigation to Charles W. Divers, QM2c; Royal H. Gooden, QM2c; Lewis F. Blanton, QM3c; Calvin Bell, QM2c at NTS Norfolk, VA. Their ship (now being constructed) will be U.S.S. Mason (DE 529). January 3, 1944. 80-G-44828. Carlton J. Dearborn, S2c [cements a stringer on the fuselage of balsam model of Stuka Dive Bomber at Camp Smalls, U.S. Naval Training Station, Great Lakes, IL. Dearborn teaches sailors to identify enemy and Allied aircraft]. March 13, 1943. 80-G-294792.
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Steward's Mates School at NAS Seattle, WA. Marching under the direction of Chief Steward Robert Nargrove. April 1944. 80-G-233266. A platoon of Negro `boot recruits' listen to their drill instructor [Sgt. Gilbert Hubert Johnson] whose job is to turn them into finished Marines. Montford Point Camp, NC. Ca. April 1943. 208-NP-10FF-1.
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Judo instruction is one of the high spots in the life of the latest addition to the Leatherneck Marines here. An instructor shows a recruit how to make the enemy's bayonet useless. Cpl. Arvin Lou Ghazlo, USMC, giving judo instructions to Pvt. Ernest C. Jones, USMCR. Montford Point Camp, NC. April 1943. 127-N-5334. A trio of recruits in training to take their places as fighting Leathernecks in the U.S. Marine Corps, run the rugged obstacle course at Camp Lejeune, NC [Montford Point Camp]. The Marine recruits have shown such excellent results in their aptitudes and leadership capacities that an expanded Navy recruiting program is now underway. April 1943. Pat Terry. 127-N-5335.
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Two recruits in a light tank during training in mechanized warfare at Montford Point Camp, NC. April 1943. Pat Terry. 127-N-5320-B. Under the direction of Swimming Instructor, Marine Pfc. Paul Tolliver, Leathernecks in training at Montford Point Camp learn the correct movements for the breaststroke. November 1944. Anderson. 127-GC-404-8276
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Marines receiving instruction in the Demolition Course at Montford Point Camp [NC], during intensive combat training in preparation for action in the Pacific. February 1945. Sgt. L. A. Wilson. 127-N-9019. American Negro nurses, commissioned second lieutenants in the U.S. Army Nurses Corps, limber up their muscles in an early-morning workout during an advanced training course at a camp in Australia. The nurses, who already had extensive training in the U.S., will be assigned to Allied hospitals in advanced sectors of the southwest Pacific theater. February 1944. 208-N-2296.
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WAAC Capt. Charity Adams of Columbia, NC, who was commissioned from the first officer candidate class, and the first of her group to receive a commission, drills her company on the drill ground at the first WAAC Training Center, Fort Des Moines, Iowa. May 1943. 111-SC-238651. A Negro WAAC [Mrs. Mary K. Adair] takes an examination for Officers' Candidate School, Fort McPherson, Georgia. June 20, 1942. 111-SC-25635.
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